Satnam Singh Bhamara
Singh (left) with the Indian national team in 2013
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| No. 52 – Texas Legends | |
|---|---|
| Position | Center |
| League | NBA Development League |
| Personal information | |
| Born |
10 December 1995 Ballo Ke, Punjab, India |
| Nationality | Indian |
| Listed height | 7 ft 2 in (2.18 m) |
| Listed weight | 290 lb (132 kg) |
| Career information | |
| High school | IMG Academy (Bradenton, Florida) |
| NBA draft | 2015 / Round: 2 / Pick: 52nd overall |
| Selected by the Dallas Mavericks | |
| Playing career | 2015–present |
| Career history | |
| 2015–present | Texas Legends |
Satnam Singh Bhamara (born December 10, 1995) is an Indian professional basketball player for the Texas Legends of the NBA Development League. He became the first player from India to be drafted into the NBA when the Dallas Mavericks chose him with the 52nd overall pick in the 2015 draft. At 7 ft 2 in (2.18 m) and 290 lb (132 kg), Singh plays the center position. He played high school basketball at IMG Academy, a private athletic training institute headquartered in Bradenton, Florida. He attracted attention from media outlets since he was as young as 14 years old, and his career at IMG helped put him on the radar for NBA teams.
Singh was born on December 10, 1995, in Ballo Ke, a village located in the Barnala district of Punjab, India that had a population of only about 800. Both Singh's father, Balbir, and his paternal grandfather were wheat farmers and millers, and the family's house was located four miles from the closest paved road. In the mid-1980s, while in his childhood, Singh's father became the tallest person in his village and his tremendous height caused the general public to advise him to start playing basketball in cities that had the proper facilities. The sport received little interest in India compared to cricket, the sport of field hockey, and soccer, however, and his father denied these overtures and wanted his son to follow his footsteps as a farmer. Balbir stayed in his hometown and was elected head of the village. He married and had three children, the middle child being Satnam.
At 9 years old, Singh was taller than the majority of adults in his village. His father took him to a local basketball court at around this time, despite having a meager understanding of the game. Singh was under the impression that he was being taken to play volleyball, and he struggled to play. Nevertheless, Singh continued to play using a hoop his father mounted in a dirt courtyard near his house. After drawing interest from villagers, who would occasionally come to watch him, he earned the nickname "Chhotu" among the villagers in his hometown, which meant "little one" in his native tongue, as his rapid growth made the basketball seem to shrink in his hands over time. Singh's interest in the game prompted his father to search for players and coaches in the Punjab region. Singh participated in youth leagues in Punjab and quickly began to dominate his opponents. At age 10, his father was urged to enroll him in the Ludhiana Basketball Academy (LBA) in the large Punjabi city of Ludhiana, a school designed to develop talent in 14- to 18-year-olds from Punjab and its neighboring states. Talwinderjit Singh was one of the many future members of the junior and senior Indian national basketball teams that the academy had experience working with. At the LBA, Singh was taught some of his first basketball skills and drills by former Punjab basketball coach and Sports Authority of India director Dr. Sankaran Subramanian. When he was 13 years old, Singh was 6 ft 11 in (2.11 m) tall, 230 lb (104 kg), and wore size-18 shoes. As he began getting more exposure to professional basketball and the National Basketball Association (NBA), he began to idolize stars such as Kobe Bryant and would try to model his game after Yao Ming and Dwight Howard. Outside of the league, he looked up to Ludhiana alum, Jagdeep Singh Bains.
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